Vahid Tarokh

Vahid Tarokh

Associated organizations

Harvard University

Fields of study

Communications

Biography

The collective work of Siavash Alamouti, Hamid Jafarkhani, and Vahid Tarokh has helped the wireless communications industry with improved quality of service and increased network capacity and has been a key enabler for 4th Generation OFDM/MIMO systems. Space-time block codes have enabled multiple-input multiple-output wireless communications systems help overcome the challenges of signal fading without the need for extra receiver antennas. Wireless data is transmitted in multiple redundant “blocks” from antenna to antenna across the network to improve the likelihood of quality data transfer on the receiver end. The trio’s research has greatly influenced the standardization, commercialization, and advancement of these codes. Mr. Alamouti created the first space-time block code for two transmit antennas in 1997 (the Alamouti code). Dr. Tarokh later generalized the code and together with Dr. Jafarkhani and A.R. Calderbank published two papers in 1999 spurring major research efforts. Dr. Jafarkhani extended the performance of space-time codes by introducing the quasi-orthogonal space-time block code in 2001.

Dr. Tarokh is a professor with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.